1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a tray supplier and a tray supply method for supplying a tray, in which a plurality of components such as IC chips and FPCs are disposed to be lined up, to a component supply position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an assembler which mounts components such as IC chips and FPCs onto a board to assemble a display panel, a tray supplier which picks up a component from a tray, in which a plurality of components are disposed to be lined up, using a work transfer mechanism and supplies the component to the assembler is used. In the tray supplier, a single tray is picked up from a supply-side tray storage unit and passed to a tray placer, and the tray is positioned at the component supply position by a tray placer. Subsequently, the components are sequentially picked up from the tray, which is positioned at the component supply position, by the work transfer mechanism, and when the components which are stored in the tray run out, the empty tray is moved by the tray placer, is passed to a collection-side tray storage unit, and the empty tray is collected. Subsequently, a new, different single tray is picked up again by the supply-side tray storage unit and passed to the tray placer.
The new other tray is positioned at the component supply position by the tray placer, and the supply of components to the work transfer mechanism is restarted.
As this type of tray supplier, there is known a device which is configured to simplify the work transfer mechanism for picking up the board, and to obtain a reduction in the size of the device and an increase in the speed of the transfer operation (for example, refer to PTL 1). In the related art described in the exemplary patent literature, by causing the trays to move in the Y direction between a first stacker and a second stacker, it is possible to ensure that the movement of a transfer head by the transfer head movement mechanism only occurs in the X direction. Accordingly, in comparison with the conventional art in which it is necessary to use an XY two-dimensional positioning mechanism, simplification and a reduction in size of the mechanism, and an increase in the speed of the transfer operation are realized.